A History of English in Its Own WordsLanguage not only defines the way we express ourselves, but also shapes the way we think. Here is a unique look at the English language, combining an informal narrative of the history of the language with a collection of more than 750 word histories, arranged chronologically in six chapters corresponding to the generally accepted "periods" in the development of English. They tell intriguing and insightful stories of the life and times of each period, full of interesting details, odd facts and colorful anecdotes that pepper the history of our language and civilization.--From publisher description. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adopted Ages altered American ancient appeared associated became become beginning body borrowed British called century claims cloth coined combination comes common compound dance derives developed dialect Dutch earlier early England especially example expression extended fellow figuratively four gave George German give Greek hand head hence High horse humor Indian Indo-European influence Italian Italy John King known land language late later Latin letters literally live look lord mark meaning meant medieval Middle English natural nineteenth century Old English Old French one's origin perhaps period Persian person phrase play popular probably referred Roman root sense seventeenth Shakespeare short slang sometimes soon sound Spanish spelled taken term thing Thomas tion took trans transferred translation turn ultimately United usually variant woman word young